Gun Laws Fail at TN Schoolby Jennifer Freeman
When guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns.
A ban on firearms at school and a ban on the possession of firearms by minors failed today when a student fatally shot an assistant principal and wounded two administrators in Campbell County, Tennessee. It is unknown at this time whether the student was under the influence of mood-altering drugs such as Ritalin, Provax, or Paxil. Also unknown is the motive.
The natural reaction of gun-banners in such instances is to rally the cry for more gun control. They claim that if it saves just one child's life it would be worth it.
We've already banned murder and that didn't work. We banned the possession of firearms in school and that didn't work. We banned the unattended possession of a firearm by a minor and that didn't work. Clearly there's only one thing left we can do. Ban school. If we ban school, there won't be anymore school shootings.
Ridiculous? Well sure an education is an essential part of our society and there clearly aren't enough such incidences to warrant banning school -- even if it would save one child's life. Is it any more ridiculous to ban self-defense with a firearm? A ban on guns is a ban on self defense with a firearm. And the more you restrict law-abiding citizens' ability to access firearms, the more you restrict their ability to defend themselves.
Firearms are used in self defense an estimated 2.5 million times per year. The lives that are saved by firearms far outweigh the incidences of misuse. Incidences that will increase exponentially if firearms were inaccessible to law-abiding citizens.
According to the AP report in the Washington Times, the student was grazed in the hand by a bullet fired from his .22-caliber handgun during a scuffle with the administrators and an unidentified teacher who helped wrestle the gun away. Ordinarily, when confronted with an armed attacker, wrestling is not the recommended option. It is very fortunate that additional injuries or fatalities did not occur as a result of that action. Had the teachers or administrators been armed they would have been able to safely neutralize the attacker. And while many teachers might scoff at this idea, you are not likely to find any police officer or military personnel who would choose wrestling as their first option of defense against an armed murderer.
Since the dawn of society, people have tried to figure out the signifying factor that causes people to commit crime. A long list of theories have developed over the years to include demonic possession, mental illness, poverty, geographic location, patriarchal power structures, and so on. Blaming the presence of an inanimate object is perhaps the most far-reaching excuse one can imagine. Yet gun-banners worldwide subscribe to this belief, clearly suggesting the possible presence of mental illness on their behalf.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of Assistant Principal Ken Bruce (deceased). Also to Principal Gary Seale, and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce. May God grant you peace and speedy recoveries.
http://www.libertybelles.org/articles/tnschool.htm.
